XenApp 7.11 and XenDesktop 7.11 Release Questions Answered

Thank you for joining Allen Furmanski and me for the What’s New in XenApp and XenDesktop 7.11 webinar earlier this month. With more than 2000 customers and partners in attendance, we appreciate your overwhelming interest in the XenApp & XenDesktop 7.11 release and have been working diligently to aggregate and categorize all your questions.

Here you have the most frequently asked questions regarding the 7.11 webinar and ANSWERS to these questions, as well as additional links to help you dig in for more information. If you missed the What’s New webinar, it is available on-demand for instant replay. If your question isn’t listed below, please post your questions in the comments section, which we will be actively monitoring.

General Release

Q: Will XenApp and XenDesktop 7.11 be the next Long Term Service Release?

A: Citrix has guided that we will have a Long Term Service Release (LTSR) every 12-24 months, with the last 7.6 LTSR being shipped in 2016Q1. The contents, features and functionality of 7.11 will be in the next LTSR, but 7.11 is labeled as a Current Release (CR). Learn more about Servicing Options for XenApp & XenDesktop.

Q: Why XenApp and XenDesktop 7.11 and not 7.10?

A: While the last release of XenApp and XenDesktop was 7.9, we opted to go with 7.11 to avoid any confusion with the perception that this is a 7.1 release.

Server 2016 and Operating Systems

Q: What version of XenServer is required for Windows Server 2016?

A: Once Server 2016 releases, XenServer 7.0 will support Windows Server 2016 with a forthcoming update. Today you can use the XenServer Tech Preview versions on 7.0 as well as 6.5.

Q: Will Citrix support Hyper-V 2016 Gen2 VMs?

A: Support for Hyper-V 2016 Gen2 VMs across components is being considered as a roadmap item.

Q: Does 7.11 also run on Windows Server 2012 R2 or only Windows Server 2016?

A: XenApp and XenDesktop 7.11 can be installed on 2008R2, 2012R2 and, once it ships, 2016. Once Windows Server 2016 ships, you can install the 7.11 VDA on it and add it to an existing XenApp or XenDesktop site, running your 2016 apps side-by-side with your 2012R2 apps.

Authentication

Q: Will Federated Authentication Service work with our own Identity Provider?

A: Federated Authentication Services will work with any SAML-aware Identity Provider. Here’s a great blog post from Andrew Innes, the product architect, with more insights.

Q: Where does the Federated Authentication Service run in the XenApp/XenDesktop environment?

A: Citrix recommends that you install the Federated Authentication Service on a separate server, more info is in the product documentation.

Q: Where are the security questions and answers for Self-Service Password Reset information stored?

A: There is a central store for the Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) that is typically installed and encrypted on the same server as the SSPR service. You can find more information and system requirements in the product documentation.

Q: Does Self-Service Password Reset integrate with Citrix NetScaler?

A: Not at this time.

Q: What do you mean by Self-Service Password Reset not requiring XenApp 6.5?

A: When we first released Self-Service Password Reset with StoreFront, we wanted to ensure it was compatible with XenApp 6.5 and there were some XenApp 6.5 dependencies on that initial release. Now, with StoreFront 3.7, the dependencies of XenApp 6.5 are completely removed.

Q: What version of StoreFront is required for Self-Service Password Reset and XenApp/XenDesktop 7?

Q: What editions of XenApp and XenDesktop have access to Citrix Profile management? How do I get started?

A: All version of XenApp and XenDesktop have access to Citrix Profile management, sometimes called User Profile Manager (UPM). Get some guidance on how to get started.

Cloud & Microsoft

Q: Will XenDesktop for Windows 10 on Azure be a part of Citrix Cloud (Apps and Desktop service) or a separate offering?

A: The new XenDesktop for Windows 10 on Azure service that Citrix is working on will be exclusively for Windows 10 on Azure. However, customers who have the Citrix Cloud Apps and Desktops service will also be able to leverage the benefits of Windows 10 on Azure as part of the existing Apps and Desktops package.

Q: Can you further explain the Citrix and Microsoft partnership to offer Windows 10 on Azure?

A: The best explanation comes from Bill Burley and Brad Anderson themselves. Check out the live Citrix and Microsoft event where both execs discuss the new service.

Q: Do Citrix support Azure Classic and Azure Resource Manager (ARM)?

A: XenApp and XenDesktop 7.11 now has ARM support for on-premises deployments looking to expand to the cloud. The XenApp and XenDesktop Service on Citrix Cloud has had ARM support available for some time now.

Q: Can you discuss how XenApp and XenDesktop will integrate with the NV-Series GPU based VM on Microsoft Azure?

Director

Q: What Director features are Platinum-only?

A: The four key features of Director that are Platinum-only are Proactive notification and alerting, OS usage reporting, Alerts from Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) and NetScaler HDX Insight. Only the 7.11 additional alerting features for CPU, Memory and ICA RTT are Platinum edition-specific. Resource utilization reporting and large-scale export are for every edition.

Q: Are there any options to monitor client performance, such as recognizing high network latency, in Citrix Director?

A: HDX Insight (powered by NetScaler and Insight Center) fully integrates within Citrix Director and can provide network-related metrics such as ICA traffic roundtrip time (RTT).

Q: What is the performance impact of actively monitoring the virtual desktops?

A: Citrix scalability testing has shown that resource utilization incurs between a 2% and 3% load on VDI machine. This blog post covers the impact on database size.

Linux

Q: Does Linux VDA 1.4 support single sign on from a Windows Receiver?

A: Yes. The Linux VDA 1.4 supports single sign on from a Windows Receiver.

Citrix Receiver

Q: What is the client requirement for dynamic graphic optimization?

A: The dynamic graphic optimization for video, still and text-based content is supported on Citrix Receiver 4.5 for Windows and Citrix Receiver 13.4 for Linux. We are working on bringing it to additional client platforms in the future. It is the default option when supported; no policy configuration is required.

Upgrade

Q: Does the 7.11 release include new functionality similar to Local Host Cache in the 6.5 release?

A: The Local Host Cache (LHC) functionality available with XenApp 6.5 and earlier provided high availability in the event that the connection to the main data store database went down. Its implementation, however, sometimes required maintenance to ensure local and remote data remained in sync. Today, with 7.11, we recommend database HA and Connection Leasing may be an option in some scenarios as well; however, we are looking to add additional HA enhancements in future releases.

Q: Do I need to upgrade the License Server when upgrading to 7.11?

A: Citrix recommends upgrading the License Server as part of any upgrade. For more guidance on upgrades, start with Upgrade a Deployment.

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